Every Friday on the blog, I answer people’s questions about sex,
love, and relationships. This week’s question comes from a reader who wanted to
know whether sex truly is one of the best forms of exercise you can get.

I’ve heard that you can
burn a ton of calories having sex, but how much can I realistically expect
to burn?

Great question! I too have heard some people say that sex
can be as good as going to the gym. For example, Gizmodo
recently reported that one bout of sexual activity burns exactly 179 calories,
a number they supposedly arrived at via the Nike Fuelband, a wristband that keeps
track of your fitness activities and caloric expenditures. If true, that would
mean that sex really is a decent workout. However, it’s unclear what to make of
the 179 figure, given that Gizmodo failed to report any of the details regarding
how they arrived at it (e.g., what sexual activities were performed and how
long did they last?). So, for perhaps a more reliable estimate, let’s take a
look at what a group of 20 physicians and PhDs had to say about the typical
number of calories expended during sex in an article published earlier this year in the
New England Journal of Medicine. According
to them:

“A man weighing 154 lb (70 kg)
would, at 3 METs, expend approximately 3.5 kcal per minute (210 kcal per hour)
during a stimulation and orgasm session. This level of expenditure is similar
to that achieved by walking at a moderate pace (approximately 2.5 miles [4 km]
per hour). Given that the average bout of sexual activity lasts about 6
minutes, a man in his early-to-mid-30s might expend approximately 21 kcal
during sexual intercourse. Of course, he would have spent roughly one third
that amount of energy just watching television, so the incremental benefit of
one bout of sexual activity with respect to energy expended is plausibly on the
order of 14 kcal.” [1]

Put
another way, a typical young guy might burn an extra 2.3 calories per minute
having sex compared to changing channels on the remote control. When this
number is multiplied by the (relatively short) length of the average
intercourse session, it should be abundantly clear that sex isn’t a replacement
for going to the gym, nor will it even come anywhere near compensating for an
afternoon trip to Starbucks.

That
said, the precise number of calories you burn during sex varies across persons
depending upon their body weight, as well as the duration and intensity of
their activity. So, it would be misleading to suggest that there’s one specific
caloric rate we could apply to all
persons and sexual situations.

Suffice
it to say that, in most cases, sex probably isn't quite the workout that some in the
media have claimed. However, keep in mind that you can always make sex “count”
for more exercise by changing up your sexual activity patterns. Just like going
to the gym, the fitness-related benefits you get out of sex depend upon how
much time and effort you put into it.

For past Sex Question Friday posts, see here.Want to learn more about The Psychology of Human Sexuality? Click here for a complete list of articles or like the Facebook page to get articles delivered to your newsfeed.

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